Posted on: Saturday, September 1, 2001

Editorial
Australia in error on asylum seekers

As the remarkable saga of the 460 castaways aboard the Norwegian freighter unfolds off the coast of Australia, we have had to ask ourselves what Washington would do if the same situation occurred in American waters.

We think it would not, as Australia has done, seek to turn the ship away. Perhaps Americans had their final fill of that sort of ignominy after the refugee ship St. Louis left Germany in May 1939 carrying 937 Jews fleeing Nazi persecution. Cuba and the United States refused entry to the ship, which was forced to return to Europe, where many of its passengers, having seen the lights of Miami, perished in the Holocaust.

The Australian, a national newspaper, has condemned Prime Minister John Howard's "indecent bungling over the Tampa and its human cargo," which the newspaper attributed to an attempt to look good in an upcoming election. It added: "Australia has a moral and legal duty to process these asylum seekers and, if they are found to be genuine, welcome them into our community."

Howard is right to condemn the smugglers who trade in these shipments of helpless people. But they need to be put ashore quickly and processed to their rightful destination.

It appears Howard sought to manufacture a domestic political crisis where there was none, in the process undermining his own legitimacy and Australia's reputation.